Materials and machine rigidity#
Material hardness#
Higher = harder = gentler feeds.
| Material |
Hardness |
| Cedar |
0.5 |
| Pine |
0.6 |
| HDPE |
0.7 |
| MDF |
0.8 |
| Plywood |
0.9 |
| Walnut |
1.1 |
| Cherry |
1.2 |
| Maple |
1.3 |
| Oak |
1.4 |
| Aluminium |
2.5 (plus max surface speed) |
| Brass |
2.8 (plus max surface speed) |
Machine Rigidity#
| Icon |
Level |
Machine |
| 🐌 |
1 · Hobby (light gantry) |
Light rail or 3D-printed, belt drive |
| 🐢 |
2 · Light hobby |
Entry aluminium extrusion |
| 🐇 |
3 · Prosumer |
Stiff hobby machine (default) |
| ⚡ |
4 · Heavy / industrial |
Steel frame, ballscrews, real spindle |
| 🚀 |
5 · Commercial CNC |
Industrial |
Rigidity scales both chip size and depth per pass.
Spindle / Router#
| Option |
Shows dial numbers |
| VFD spindle (variable) |
No (uses the S-word) |
| Manual / fixed speed |
No |
| DeWalt DW6xx (DWP611) |
Yes |
| Makita RT07 (RT0701C) |
Yes |
Setup panel machine fields#
| Section |
Field |
Meaning |
| Feeds & Speeds |
Min Spindle · Max Spindle |
Spindle range in RPM. Routers bottom out near 10,000 |
| Machine Limits |
Table Width · Table Height · Max Z Travel |
Travel the export review checks against |
| Machine Limits |
Safe Height |
Height for rapid moves |
| Machine Motion |
Max Feed Rate |
Hard ceiling on feed |
| Machine Motion |
Accel X/Y · Accel Z · Z Max Rate · Junction Dev. |
Used for run-time estimates |